This is a great recipe for a rainy January day like today. This can easily be made in a slow cooker, but I’m home all day so it can happily sit in the oven for two and a half hours. If you don’t have cowboy rub you can use a mix of chilli powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, brown sugar and a bit of ground coffee – trust me, it sounds weird but tastes amazing!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 500g diced stewing steak
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp cowboy rub (see note above)
• 2 tsp chopped fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp crushed chillies
• 1/2 cup Southern Comfort Black
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 290g tin spicy mixed beans

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°c/160°c fan/gas 4.
• Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium heat in a casserole pan and brown the diced beef in batches. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep to one side.
• Reduce the temperature to a low to medium heat. Add the final 1 tbsp olive oil and gently fry the onion until it’s starting to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic, cowboy rub, oregano, ground cumin, and chilli flakes and fry gently for 1 minute – keep an eye on it as you don’t want it to burn; you just want the garlic and herbs to become aromatic.
• Add the beef back into the pan with any juices, then move the pan off the heat and carefully add the Southern Comfort Black; it will bubble up and cook off a lot of the alcohol, leaving you a great flavour for your sauce. Using a wooden spoon, scrape any residue off the bottom of the pan to get maximum flavour. Put the pan back on the heat and let it bubble for a minute or two until it is reduced a little.
• Stir in the tomato purée, add the chopped tomatoes and spicy mixed beans, then half fill the tomato tin with water and add that to the pan as well (I usually swirl out both tins with this water for maximum flavour). Keep it on the heat until it starts to bubble, then pop the lid on the pan and place it in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Check it half way through to make sure it’s not drying out; if it is, add a splash of water or even a drop more SoCo.
• Once cooked, let it sit for 5 minutes then check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Serve with rice, corn chips or on its own with a dollop of sour cream or guacamole.

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